Saturday, September 01, 2007

Simple Pleasures

Hi Knitters,
The end of summer is always a bittersweet time of year for me. I have always lived on the school calendar instead of the monthly calendar. September is the start of the year in my mind. My dad was a professor and then I became a teacher and then I had children who are in school. There was never a break in that cycle. So as the summer ends and the new year begins I am taking delight in life's simple pleasures. Here are a few:
1. Two completed book projects. These are the best toys I have ever designed. I am thrilled with the way they turned out and I can't wait to share their entire story with you.
2. A stack of fabric delivered from purl.
This is the Chocolate Lollipop collection sampler from Anna Maria Horner. She is a wonderful talent and I love her blog.
3. My own version of fruit style. I made mine with a finger loop for easy carrying.
When I show this to anyone all they ask is, why? Every single time it happens and I love it. I made mine out of Rowan Handknit Cotton and it is so easy. I am thinking about cranking out a few more for my kids to give to teachers on the first day of school. You should give it a try.
4. My daughter's summer sketch book decorated with left-over ribbon.
She is filling it with fairies on each page. She has a lot of fairy ideas this summer. It is so cute and fun. It is good to be eight.
5. Rediscovered artwork from childhood. I have found a lot of surprises from my childhood that were packed away and this piece made me smile. I don't know how old I was when I made this but doesn't it resemble the shape of Elefante? I couldn't believe it.
6. Bubbles that smell like chocolate. I blow the bubbles while my daughter tries to eat them.
7. A big stack of books waiting to be read.
8. A chill in the air.
9. Pumpkin spice lattes are back at Starbucks. J'adore.
10. My invitation to Ravelry arrived yesterday! To my delight there are a lot of knitters working on and posting photos of itty-bitty things. Yay! I am under susanbanderson if you want to look me up but I haven't even started working on that yet. It looks a bit daunting to me. I need to spend some time figuring the whole thing out. I looked up my friends peaknit and knitterella right away. As always they have great knitterly stuff to share.
I hope you are all enjoying some end of summer pleasures on this holiday weekend.
best, susie
p.s. Do you have any topics for quick tutorials you want me to put on video? I have list but I will happily add more. Let me know.

9 comments:

Denise said...

I love all your photos today. We have the exact same bubbles, my daughter was blowing them yesterday! I could read all the books in your book-pile and I'll have a pumpkin spice latte with you any time, I noticed they were in Starbucks this week too :-) I love Fall, all I need now is some cooler weather!
Have a super Labor Day Weekend.

peaknits said...

OMG - I tink I love each little thing today! I love that little piggy tail. Your pile of books looks wonderful - I really enjoyed Astrid and Veronika and am hooked on anything Jodi Picoult right now! Might take a few more ideas from your stack. Speaking of stacks - the fabric is delightful! Yay! What will it be??!

Can't wait to see you over at ravelry - or for that matter, walking on the streets of Madison with your fruit warmer:) sweet! 30 days til your new book??

Wannabe said...

I just finished Body Surfing by Anita Shreve. IT WAS AWESOME. Nice stack o' fiction. Can't wait for the new book. Off to add you to my Ravelry friends.

Adrienne said...

What a great post! There is a little bit of everything here!!! LOVE your fruit style!!!

Annie said...

So curious to know the story behind the toys. Are they puppets? Hmmmm...
Are you willing to share the pattern for the fruit thingys? My daughter starts second grade on Tuesday and she always brings an apple to the teacher on the first day.
Can't wait for Ravelry to go live. Thanks for the tip on that. Didn't know it existed.

Susan B. Anderson said...

Hi Laskarphol,
The knitted toys are not puppets. They are stuffed toys and now I am knitting a wardrobe for them. It's so fun!
I don't feel right about writing up a pattern for the fruit sling because it isn't my design. Just measure your apple's height and circumference to figure it out. It is just like making a little hat.
Good luck,
susan

Sarah said...

I love fall, too! It's still hot here in Texas, but I just pretend it's not :)

What a wonderful collection of things you've posted about! Those two toys look wonderful--I'm excited to hear about them . . .

Knitterella said...

End of summer is always bitter sweet. I imagine once I have kids it will be a whole lot different with the start of school. I do get excited for the feel of fall in the air. It is my favorite season - favorite time to knit too!

That does resemble Elephante!

Yes! Glad you are on Raverly! You'll love it! :)
Jill

Elizabeth said...

hi susan! I've gotten behind on your blog, but am having a grand time reading all these entries you've made at the end of summer and the beginning of school. I love this time as well :) I got on ravelry not too long ago and will be sure to look you up (i'm eshy).

I've never seen bubbles that taste like chocolate - that's so ... delicious sounding! I blow bubbles 29384 times a day at preschool and I would love some like that ^.^